# From Altadas. . .



## Budprince (Mar 29, 2007)

I'm sure many of you have received an e-mail from similar to the one below. I wanted to make it available to any who haven't seen it. there is a link provided for those of you who (if you haven't already) can e-mail your representatives.

Let the Jungle be heard!

*From: **[email protected]*

*Your help is urgently needed - Make your Voice heard!

The US Senate and House of Representatives have each recently passed bills to 
fund a major expansion in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) 
through dramatic increases in the federal excise taxes on tobacco.

The increases on cigars are particularly punitive. While children's health care 
is important, it is significant to note that the large cigar tax rate is already 
the HIGHEST of any product for which a federal tax is levied. In fact, the 
Senate bill would increase the current tax cap by 5,900% and the House bill 
would increase the current tax cap by 1,900%. Any increase in the cigar excise 
tax will only magnify this distortion and further the disproportionate and 
unfair tax burden on cigars.

These additional taxes will have a devastating effect on the cigar industry. 
Not only will cigar prices increase dramatically, but many businesses including 
retail tobacco shops, mail order companies, leaf tobacco growers, small 
manufacturers and tens of thousands of rollers and workers in Central America 
may be put out of work.

A joint Senate/House conference will soon meet to try to resolve the differences 
in the two bills and agree on a compromise version.

We urge you to contact your Senators and Members of Congress NOW and ask them to 
oppose all new tax increases in cigars.

Please click this link **www.cigarassociation.org** to quickly and efficiently 
email your representatives directly or to download letters that you can send.

Let your voice be heard!
**www.cigarassociation.org*


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